The Modified Coverage Plan

When the City of Los Angeles began to suffer real revenue reductions in early 2009, the City moved to stem real and projected gaps in various City agencies, including the Los Angeles Fire Department. The Office of the Mayor instructed the Fire Chief to immediately implement cost savings in the millions of dollars. A number of options were considered, and a plan was devised that would temporarily alter the response footprint of the department.

The option of periodically closing resources on a rotating basis was selected due to uncertainty related to the extent of the budget reduction required of the department. The “Modified Coverage Plan” (MCP) was designed to maintain fire and EMS response in each of the local fire station service areas, while reducing the overall cost of operation. The MCP went into effect on August 9, 2009 and to-date has saved in excess of $30 million dollars*.

*The sworn employees displaced from these resource closures has reduced the amount of overtime used by staffing vacancies created by compensated time off (i.e. injured, sick, vacation, holidays, etc.).

An overview of the Modified Coverage Plan

While the plan is in effect, the following reduction in services takes place:

• Each day, 31 emergency resources are closed
• 122 fire personnel are "pooled" to fill vacancies due to illness, retirement, vacation, etc.

In addition, on a rotating basis, the following resources are "out of service" for the day:

• 22 Fire Engines and Trucks
• 6 Basic Life Support (BLS) Ambulances
• 2 Battalion Command Team
• 1 Division Command Team

NOTE: Now that the NEW LAFD FY2011-FY2012 Deployment Plan has been approved, the MCP will be phased out. The new Deployment Plan will officially go into effect in the new fiscal year, on or about July 5, 2011.

 

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